


"Well, This is a Dream, Right?"

by finitexs



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Fucked Up Dreams, Gen, it isn't the focus of the fic tho, merry is briefly in the fic, rated T for deaTh, some renmerry at the end, there's death in this fic but it's nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29117586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finitexs/pseuds/finitexs
Summary: If you die in a dream, do you die in real life?A fic in which Renko falls into a dream and almost dies.
Kudos: 6





	"Well, This is a Dream, Right?"

**Author's Note:**

> a fic inspired by a dream i had. 
> 
> do note the tags. there’s some dying going on here. nothing too gruesome but still something that should be noted. if you’re fine with that, continue reading.
> 
> thank you to [jubilantscribbler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jubilantscribbler/pseuds/jubilantscribbler), [afterreign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterreign/pseuds/afterreign), and kfg24 for betaing.

When Renko opened her eyes, she was greeted by the dark night sky, a sky without any stars or moon. She looked down and saw that she was sitting on a cold, floating, metal platform. How did she even get here? The last thing she remembered was snuggling up to Merry as they got ready to sleep... and then she was here. This must've been a dream. There wasn't any other explanation.

She looked around and saw that she was in the middle of... an amusement park? She never went to one, but her grandaunt told her about them before. There were a lot of tents, some roller coasters, and a giant Ferris wheel that went higher than Renko could see. 

But despite all this, none of this stood out to Renko. What stood out to her was the fact that she was the only person here. No one else was here. The tents, the rides, the giant wheel. All of it was empty. And yet, they were still functioning. The tents were lit up, the roller coasters were rushing along the tracks, and the wheel was slowly moving. What was going on?

"Welcome, welcome! Come one, come all, for the show is about to begin!" 

A booming, energetic voice snapped Renko out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a tall woman standing on a platform above her. She was dressed in a white suit and had the tallest top hat that Renko had ever seen. Not that she'd seen many top hats but still. 

"The show is about to begin! Our lucky guests have been chosen," the woman said as she looked down at the platform Renko was on. 

Guests? Renko looked around her and saw that she wasn't alone on the platform. There were some... human-shaped figures next to her. It was hard to describe them, but they kept flickering in and out of existence. One moment they were there, the next they weren't. For the most part, they just looked like living shadows.

"Now, enough waiting. Let us begin!"

Two large shadows came over and picked up one of the people on the platform. They brought the person up to the tall woman.

She smiled and said, "You like cooking, yes? I have a treat for you, then." 

The two large shadows threw the person onto another platform. One of them pulled out a giant cleaver and raised it up high over its head.

Renko's eyes widened when she realized what was going to happen. No way...

The cleaver went down right as Renko closed her eyes and looked away. But that wasn't enough to stop herself from hearing the loud, wet squelch of the cleaver as it hit the platform.

Renko could feel herself getting nauseous as the two shadows took away the platform. They really just... She rapidly shook her head, trying to wake herself up. This had to be a dream. It had to be.

The woman laughed as she knelt down and picked something up. It was hard to see, but Renko was sure about what it was.

"As a cook, you prepared food for people. But now, you can _become_ the food for people. Isn't that wonderful?" The woman laughed as she held up the person's head. 

Why was she having this kind of dream? This was a dream... right? Renko looked around the platform, looking to see if there was any way out of the situation. The platform was too high off the ground to safely jump off of, and there wasn't a ladder or anything she could use to get down. 

"And for our next guest."

The two large shadows returned and picked up the person next to Renko. The person was brought up to the woman.

"You like sleeping, yes? How about I give you the most comfortable sleep in your life?

The two shadows went to another platform that had a bed on it. Gently, as if in contradiction of what they just did, they put the person on the bed and tucked them in. One of the shadows stayed next to the bed while the other went and got more blankets and put them on the bed. And kept putting more onto the bed. The shadow kept putting blankets onto the bed, making sure to completely cover up the person. Thin ones, thick ones, fuzzy ones, smooth ones. They kept piling up until the tower of blankets reached above the sky, further than Renko could see.

With that many blankets covering their entire body... Renko hoped that the person suffocated before their body got crushed by the sheer weight of the blankets. 

She quickly shook her head again. Think, Renko, think! There wasn't much time left. 

"I'm sure that sleep was to _die_ for," the woman laughed. "And now... our final guest."

Renko felt her throat go dry. No. Not her.

"... Miss Usami." 

The two shadows approached her. Renko tried to run away, but she couldn't move. Her body refused to listen. All she could do was watch as they got closer. She was next. They were coming for her and what the hell was she going to do and-

... Except it seemed like everything was slowing down. Was it just her brain tricking itself into thinking that? No. They were actually slowing down. Renko watched as everything became slower as they got closer to her. As they slowed down, the air grew colder and colder until she was shivering, unable to stop her teeth from chattering. And finally, everything came to a stop. Time was completely frozen.

"You can't die yet. I still require your abilities." A woman's voice rang out over the frozen world. It was a strong, commanding voice. But for some reason, Renko thought it sounded familiar.

Renko whipped her head around, trying to find where the voice was coming from. All she got in response was a chuckle.

"I am a part of nature, a part of this world itself. You won't find me," the voice said. "Now, I'll be taking you with me."

Renko was about to ask what she meant until she realized that she was slowly sinking into the floor. She looked down and saw that the floor was replaced by some... purple, slime-like substance. Flailing her limbs, she tried to get free. It was no use. She kept slowly sinking.

"The more you struggle, the faster you'll sink. Don't resist it. It's inevitable."

That just made Renko struggle harder. She couldn't just sit there and do nothing as she sank. There had to be a way out of this. She was saved from one thing, but now she had to worry about another. Think! There had to be something she could d-

Her thoughts were cut off as an eye appeared in the floor in front of her. She tried to scream, but her voice wasn't working. The eye stared at her as she struggled.

The purple slime was up to her chest now. She didn't have much time left. Struggling even harder, she started to feel hot tears forming in her eyes. Things couldn't just end like this... She still had so much more left to do. She _just_ moved in with Merry after years of being with her, so she really didn't want to die now. There were so many more things she wanted to see, so many things she wanted to learn. So much more time left to spend with Merry...

It was up to her neck. As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed like escape wasn't possible. But still. She had to do something. She tilted her head back and stared up at the night sky. She had to make sure she could breathe for as long as possible, at the very least... and if she really was going to die, she wanted to see the stars and the moon one last time. Even if they weren't here in this dark sky. 

As her head began sinking, she realized. She never had gone to space. There was that one time she went using Merry's powers, and even though that was really cool, that wasn't quite what she was looking for. She wanted to go to the moon in a spaceship. She wanted to try zero gravity coffee. And most importantly, she wanted to go with Merry. But it looked like that would never happen. 

The last thing Renko thought of was Merry. She hoped that Merry would be okay.

* * *

"Dreams are dangerous things. I'm sure you realized that long ago, though. It's time for you to return where you belong. Farewell, Renko Usami."

* * *

"Renko! Renko, wake up!"

Renko's eyes snapped open as she woke up from her dream. Merry was above her, a worried frown on her face. 

It took Renko a bit before she realized that she could actually talk and move now. She reached up and gently hugged Merry.

Merry seemed surprised, but she quickly hugged back. "Renko... you were having a nightmare."

"Yeah..." Renko whispered, her voice hoarse. 

"Oh, you sound thirsty. I'll get you some water," Merry said as she let go of Renko.

"No, wait!" Renko said, her voice a bit louder than she intended. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I'm okay... Can you just stay with me for now?"

Merry hesitated for a moment but went back to Renko. "I still think some water would help you out, but... It sounds like you had a pretty bad nightmare."

Wordlessly, Renko nodded.

Merry hugged Renko and gently patted her back. "It's all fine now, no need to worry. I'm with you."

Renko felt the tension slowly leave her as she melted into Merry's embrace. She was right. It was over. Everything was fine now.

"Do you want to try going back to bed?" Merry softly asked. "I'll be right here."

"Yeah..." Renko murmured. 

Both of them got comfortable, snuggling each other as they drifted off to sleep. 

"Good night, Renko."

"Good night, Merry."

And Renko slept peacefully. 

**Author's Note:**

> renko and merry cuddled in bed every night after this and they eventually got married and it was all very good and they continued doing hifuu activities. that’s the canon of this fic.
> 
> but yeah, this was inspired by a dream i had. the concept of the dream was pretty similar to this except it was way more gruesome and i woke myself up instead of some random, mysterious woman waking me up with goopy goop. dreams are pretty fucked up.
> 
> it’s funny, though. after i typed all this, i came to the realization that this is a LOT like the other reimari fic i wrote. why the fuck? that’s fucked up. i’m gonna be accused of plagiarizing myself.
> 
> i stayed up for like an hour just thinking about titles, and i finally decided that i would have it be a quote. this is the first time in finite history that i've used a quote as a title, so it's very special.
> 
> anyway, hope you enjoyed. kudos and comments are always appreciated.


End file.
